5 Things Friday

With a sick kid on Monday, night meeting on Tuesday, and still a sick baby on Wednesday, I could have sworn yesterday was Friday.

It was not.

But today is!  And Halloween at that!  Here's this week's dose of randomness.  And because it is the 5th Friday of the month, my boss is bringing in doughnuts (I'm trying to get myself pumped up for today).


1.  Even though I didn't really decorate much... And I was never really into dressing up, I am excited for Halloween.  I am excited to see the Halloween display our neighbors have put together and find out how many kids we will get at our new house.  But most of all, I am excited to take my little man Trick-or-Treating.  We might get a better response to it this year than last year.

{My cute little lion}

Last year, when I took him to the door, people almost seemed offended when I held out the bag for candy.  No, my 5 month old would not be eating the candy.  But his mother, who hiked him up to your door might.  Not to mention that I was still exclusively breastfeeding, so he was getting it by proxy.


2.  Along the lines of trick-or-treating, I asked Henry if he could say "Trick or Treat" this morning and he shook his head no.  That answers that.


3.  I had to stop by Walgreens the other day to pick up some Pedialyte, Parmesean and Italian Herb Chex Mix, and to yell at the Pharmacist (ok I didn't yell.  I asked a question) and while I was there, I picked up a pair of fleece lined textured leggings.  And this proved 2 things: 1) I will buy almost anything fleece lined and 2) $5.99 is the perfect price.

It may have also proved that I am a classy lady.  Whatever.  They are SO COMFY! I should have capitalized on their 2 for $10 offer.


4.  Even though Henry didn't feel super great, we took him to his daycare pumpkin patch this week.  They had pumpkins, ghost the kids would punch, pumpkin guts to squish, a pool full of jello, and hay to throw.  But Henry was mostly drawn to the pool filled with shaving cream.

He was doing fine, rubbing his hands in it.  And then a little girl fell and got some shaving cream in his hair.  He went to wipe the shaving cream off his hair with his shaving cream filled hands.  One thing led to another and...

It got a little out of hand.


5.  We are nearing the end of graduate school which means Phil is working his tail off pretty much around the clock.  Yesterday morning, I woke up at 6 and he wasn't in bed.  So I came downstairs and found him laying on the floor in the office.  Apparently he had laid down to take a short nap and slept all night.

Poor guy.

I have instituted a bedtime for him.  He still needs some sleep.



Happy weekend!!!

Working Mom Problems

The runny nose, grumpy gus little man confirmed my Mommy intuition on Monday night when I picked him up from daycare... He was sick.

I knew it was coming.  He had had a cold for over a week.  The runny nose was, shall we say, NOT the appropriate color.  And was he touchy his ear more often?  I don't know.  He was also GRUMPY.

Was it teeth?  Just the cold?

Monday night we knew it was something worse.  He looked exhausted.  He had dark circles under his eye and was a little paler.  The straw that broke the camel's back was the temperature he developed Monday night.  Then he woke up at 2.  And at 3.

Definitely headed to the doctor.

My poor little guy has an ear infection.  :(

As someone who got ear infections almost monthly growing up, I really feel his pain.  I have vivid memories of being in excruciating pain, waking up in the middle of the night crying because my ears hurt so bad.  Tylenol couldn't touch the pain.  The only thing that helped was when my dad would lay the infected ear on his bare chest and stroke my forehead.  To this day, I know my hearing is damaged from all the ear infections.

Obviously, I felt really bad when we found out he was sick.  And even worse when I wrestled with what to do next.  Do I take him to daycare?  Maybe to Grandma's house?  Should I stay home with him?  Should Phil stay home with him?

This is when being a working parent is really hard.

No matter which option gets picked, HUGE amounts of guilt follow.  If I stay home, how am I going to get my work done?  If I go to work, is Henry ok without me?

Daycare is expensive and work is really busy so if Henry is acting alright, he has to go to daycare.  But I won't lie... I feel like a horrible mom about it.

Every fiber in my being is pulling me toward him.  I just want to take him home, cuddle up with him, watch Disney movies and play with Duplos.  There isn't a single part of me that wants to be at work.  But I have to.  For my company, for my clients, and most importantly to provide for my family... I have to be at work.

This is what I tell myself, over and over as my heart hurts for my little guy who is possibly being comforted by not me.

I ended up checking on him in the afternoon and when she told me he "ok but very grumpy" I decided I needed to just finish up what I was doing and go get him.  We spent the evening reading books, with an early bath and bedtime (which didn't go over really well because he wanted to be read even MORE books).

I am hopeful that he will have a better day today.  Hopefully the antibiotics have kicked in and his ear will stop hurting him.

Sick babies are the worst.

Obligatory October Post

We did something this weekend that nobody else has done during the month of October...

{I absolutely love pictures of these two walking together.  

I don't know, they just look like best buddies.  It's too cute to me.}

The pumpkin patch!!!

Ok so maybe it wasn't the most original activity.  But we were one of the first ones and one of the few there.  The weather didn't exactly scream "Outdoor Activity".  But we actually lucked it.  It only sprinkled on us a little and it didn't get super windy until later that afternoon.  I guess that's what you get when you go the last weekend of the month.

But we got our pumpkins.  Henry seemed to have a good time.  He fell asleep on the way home and slept for another 3 hours once we got home.  So... no rain, pumpkins, tired baby.  Recipe of a successful outing.  :)

We also ended up going to the same pumpkin patch the next day with my family and Henry seemed very underwhelmed.  I wonder what his reaction will be on Wednesday when daycare his their "Little People Pumpkin Patch".  Hopefully he won't just be like, "I am so over pumpkins, guys."

We will see.

5 Things Friday: Pretty much all about Henry

As of yesterday (or last night at 11:22), Henry is 17 months old.  Like in a month he will be a year and a half.  I'm already freaking out a little bit about him changing daycare rooms (because I must create things to be anxious about).  Basically at this rate, he will be headed off to college.

In honor of my little Hank, this week's 5 Things Friday is solely devoted to him.

1.  He somehow figured out that he was willing to expand his palate and eat actual meat on one condition... It must have barbecue sauce on it.  And BBQ sauce doesn't just work on meat.  Veggies as well.  I had a moment when I realized that I needed to pick my battles.  Am I willing to let him eat a little BBQ sauce on each bite of meat (and thankfully he only requires a tiny bit of sauce) if it means he will eat things other than black beans and expensive veggie pouches?  My answer is yes.

And at least it's BBQ sauce and not ranch.


2.  He will also eat chicken nuggets.  Without BBQ sauce.  Thank you Costco.  And chocolate pudding.  So in case there was any doubt, he's an American.


3.  Henry is super into books right now, so each time we get in the car he gets a book to read.  This week, he started "reading" out loud to himself.  He will flip through the pages and say, "Ga ga ga" and then flip the page and keep going.  It is pretty darn cute.  Like super cute.


4.  Henry is very into applauding himself these days.  If he puts his cup in the cup holder on the high chair, he claps.  If he puts two legos together, clapping.  Gives you a high five, applause.  At night after we read 2 bedtime books (because I have to set a limit), I sing "Sweet Dreams" by Jewel.

The last few days when I start to sing, he starts clapping.  And then he usually applauds for me when I have finished singing as well.

Captive audience.


5.  We visited my dad's office yesterday morning and he has a pretty extensive elephant collection.  As Henry saw each elephant, he tried to make an elephant noise which kind of just results in him spitting.  It's cute and we clap which further promotes him clapping for himself.  At least he won't have poor self-esteem.


Other Henry facts:

-  He says "Papa" every time we go to the office.

-  He is REALLY into Legos.

-  We are working on translating "Grandma" into "Nana" because he can clearly says it.  What's even cuter, the other day we were with my mom and when I asked him to say Nana, he looked right at her, smiled and said, "Nana."  Wrapping her around his little finger.

The Favorite

I think we know who everyone's favorite is...

I'm not jealous.  He's my favorite too.  :)

There are several reasons why he is my favorite.  One of the reasons: he's my bug killer.

Except at the office (because he can't come to my office whenever I encounter a bug).  Right now, we are having a bit of an ant problem at work.  At one point today, I thought about just giving the ants my desk.  That would have been the easiest solution since the ants were EVERYWHERE and I hate all bugs.  Lyme Disease and a bug bite that had to be surgically removed will do that to you.

Have I ever really mentioned on here that I had Lyme Disease?  I did.  I used to be totally fine and levelheaded around bugs.  But when a bug bite makes you violently ill, requires you to take weeks worth of antibiotics, and then takes another two months to get over, it kind of fosters an irrational fear of them.

So like I said... I wanted to abandon my desk and all of my belongings in it.  But I put on my big girl pants, went and got an ant trap, and put it under my desk.

When I told Phil, he sincerely applauded my bravery.

Another reason he is my favorite.

This might be the weirdest love letter ever.  Whatevs.

No Control = Cooking

The past couple of weeks have been a bit of a struggle for me.  Some stuff at work has been really making me feel deflated.  And we are nearing hopefully the end of grad school for Phil which adds more stress.  Throw in some toddler tantrums and basically I get slapped with the following realization every day...

I am in control of nothing.

Of course life situations don't really change this.  We are never really in control of anything.  But with everything that is going on, I am feeling really helpless.

I finally realized that the way I have been coping with this is Pinterest (like HERE).  I have been doing A LOT of cooking lately.  New recipes.  Meals from scratch.  Cakes.  

Two such cooking excursions happened this weekend.

First, Braxton and I make pumpkin patches based on THIS PIN.

{Henry did a great job watching}

{Henry liked it}

Then I decided to make THIS CAKE while Henry napped.  I took it to a family birthday party and got LOTS of compliments (which weren't warranted because it's a box cake mix, but whatever).

It was an adventure in food coloring.

I am feeling an really intense need to create and craft.  Maybe it's the fact that I am in control of the outcome and I get to see the fruits of my labor?  I don't know.

But if you are getting a Christmas gift from my family this year, you can probably expect it to be handmade.  Pinterest and I have some work to do.

5 Things Friday

1.  This week was long.  And for some reason, everyone in my house is really tired.  I don't know if it is the weather or what.  I guess it could be that we haven't gotten the temperature right in the house at night, so all three of us are waking up multiple times a night.  Either way, Phil fell asleep yesterday afternoon, Henry fell asleep on the way home last night, and I was in bed at 8.


2.  Joanna and I started trading baby-sitting every month so we each get an opportunity to go on a date with our husbands.  Last month, it was our turn for the date.  This month, it is Joanna's turn.  I am so excited because this means we get to hang out with Braxton!!  As an honorary "Auntie", I want some fun things to do with Braxton.  And maybe Henry will join in as well.  We will only have a couple of hours because we are going to go to church and then to our church's harvest festival.  But you know what looks like fun?  This:

{From HERE}

Or this:

{From HERE}

We might have to wait on the second one though.  I doubt I can keep Henry from putting his paint covered hands in his mouth.


3.  Last week there were 7 birth announcements on my Facebook page.  SEVEN!!  At least.  It might have been more.  When I pointed this out in a status update, someone commented saying "What was happening 9 months ago?  Must have been some good New Year's parties."  I thought that was kind of funny.


4.  Henry had his school pictures Tuesday which OF COURSE means he fell down and scraped his face on Monday.  So we had scraped forehead, wound above the eyebrow, and a scratch on the nose.  If nothing else, it will accurately represent how he looked as a toddler.  A clumsy toddler.

{Oddly enough, you can't see any of his owies in this picture.  

I doubt that will be the case for his school pictures.}

But my fingers are crossed that we can make it through the day without going to the ER or the doctor's office.  It would be the first Friday in 4 weeks.  Fingers crossed real hard.


5.  Here's a random fact about myself:  I kind of hate when things end.  Specifically TV shows and movies.  I LOVE Gilmore Girls.  Own every season.  I have NEVER seen the finale.  I listen to Hocus Pocus religiously in October (mostly while I am getting ready in the morning).  I don't usually listen to the last 15 minutes.  And that's true of most movies.  I have read the entire Harry Potter series at least a half dozen times, except for the final book.  That one I have read twice.  Just one more thing that makes me weird.  :)


Happy Friday!  Here's hoping Henry lets us sleep in tomorrow until 9 like he did last weekend (it was AMAZING).

Guest Speaker and Some Facts

Like most bloggers, I write posts ahead of time.  This probably surprises no one.  But a post that goes up Thursday morning is usually written Wednesday night.

Last week, my Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday posts were all written Sunday night (since I knew night meetings would keep me from blog writing for the week).

So that means this post was written Wednesday night.

Truthfully, I need to be working.  I have a stormwater report that needs to be done TOMORROW.  I spent 4 hours today visiting a high school for career day, talking about civil engineering to sophomores.  I did this last year at a local middle school.  I am good to talk to students because I am a young woman.  It's good to show that engineers aren't always about old, white men.

I like to start off explaining Civil Engineering with a few examples of what civil engineering is because, let's face it, most people don't really know.  A good number of adults ask me what I do, so I wasn't surprised when adolescents don't know.

Here are a couple of engineering facts for you:

-  The Leaning Tower of Pisa is built in the shape of a banana.  As construction began, they noticed that it was sinking on one side because the soil was too weak to support the building.  So they began compensating by building that side up.  The more weight they added, the more the tower sank.  And it ended up being shaped like a banana.  They have since reinforced the soil for the building.

I was going to include a picture of the Tower of Pisa, but when I googled it, there were too many pictures of people acting like they were holding it up.

-  Why do the British drive on the left side of the road? When I studied traffic engineering in England,  a professor told me that it was linked back to medieval times, when everyone was right-handed.  Knights would joust, holding their joust in their right hand and standing on the left hand side.  A quick google search mentioned that you walked on the left hand side because everyone was right-handed and held their swords in their right hands, standing on the left.  Same basic idea.  Little known fact.


I also like to share a piece of information the head of the department of civil engineering shared at our departmental graduation.  He said, "Doctors kill people one at a time.  Engineers kill them by the dozens."  That usually gets an interesting reaction.  It certainly scared the youknowwhat out of me when he said it.

With that being said, I'd better get back to work.  I just wanted to clarify that I wasn't writing this at work.  :)

Date, Dr, Milkshake, and Apples

I was doing so well at blogging every day.  Until last Thursday.  Killed me streak I had going, which is lame.  I love building the momentum.

Although I did have quite the busy week last week.  I had two night meetings in a row (Monday and Tuesday) where I really didn't get to see Henry at all.  Then Wednesday night, I had to take some work home and work on that for over an hour.  It was time to turn away from work and focus a little on my family.  So that's what I did.

Here's what I have been doing for the last 5 (ish) days:

Thursday night, Phil and I went on our first real date since February.  That's way too long to go between dates, we know that.  But I deal with a fair bit of guilt in regards to asking people to babysit/leaving Henry anymore than I have to.  However, I know that putting energy into our marriage will pay off so much more in the long run.  I'm working on it.  Thursday was a great reminder.

Here's to hoping it doesn't take 8 months for another date.

Friday morning we noticed that Henry's stitches still hadn't fallen out, even though they should have. In addition, his eye brow was starting to look a little swollen.  That meant we were back to the doctor's office to get his stitches taken out.  While holding him down while they did that was awful, so was trying to entertain a toddler while also trying to keep him from touching anything.  Thankfully, Phil was with me to help.

{Thankfully the doctor didn't walk in while we were doing this}

We topped off an excellent appointment by getting Henry his first of 2 flu shots.  When he saw the needle, he started crying.  I would feel bad, except that he would be so much worse if he actually got sick.  About 5 seconds after the shot, he was fine.

When I was little and had to go to the doctor to get something unpleasant done (shots, tests, blood draw), my mom would always bribe me by saying, "If you are a brave girl, we will stop and get a happy meal on the way home."  To my knowledge, it worked every time.  In fact, to this day I reward myself if I am a brave girl at the doctor's office (this became quite tricky during all the cancer appointments.  I got a LOT of rewards).  However, getting unpleasant things done at the doctor's office really doesn't bother me.  Therefore, I plan to use the same bribery on my children.

So Henry got his first milkshake!

We stopped by the office (because I had to go back to work) and Henry decided to share his milkshake with Papa.  I'm sure Papa loved the backwash.

Thanks to some great planning, we got to spend the whole weekend together.  We decided to take advantage of the great weather we were having and went apple picking again.  Henry was much more interested this time.  He kept trying to pick up the apples off the ground and put those in our bucket.

This week looks like it will be a little less hectic (no night meetings for me).  I am looking forward to maybe starting some crafts, after I tackle this:

When faced with the choice of folding laundry or spending time with my guys, it was a pretty easy decision.  Hence the gigantic pile of laundry.  I'm sure I will be done folding it right about it is time to do laundry again.

Toddlers are hard

Raising a toddler is HARD.

My mom says between 1-3 is the hardest age (teenage years aside).  You can't really reason with them.  They don't understand consequences all that well.  And you can't really bribe them either (there's no "take two more bites and you can have dessert").

I don't know what Henry's deal is right now.  He swings between being super happy and throwing feet-stomping tantrums.  It's awesome.

My mom keeps mentioning that perhaps this is just his personality (and it drives me nuts when she says this), but I refuse to accept that.  He eats whatever I put in front of him one week and then won't eat hardly anything the next.  He is super sweet and kind and then the next week his keeps biting me.

Yesterday at daycare, he was upset when I put him down so I knelt down and was giving him hugs.  He then proceeded to walk 5 feet away from me to push another baby.  Grumps galore.

{This is what it looks like close to nap time}

Dinner time is especially challenging for me.  I waffle between wanting to get him to eat anything and feeling like I am negotiation with the enemy.  If I give in and make him something different until he'll eat, am I teaching him that he will always get his way?  Or is he too young for that?  I don't know.

Is it teeth?  Is he growing?  Does he have a cold?  All of the above?

His hands are constantly in his mouth.  He has a rash on his cheeks.  18 months clothing doesn't fit anymore.  And his nose is a faucet.

So it is probably all three.

But I want my happy, sweet boy back.  Maybe after cold and flu season is over, I guess.

Until then, we will trying our best to not pull our hair out (especially at dinner time).

Henry's favorite band

A couple of months ago, daycare asked us to bring Henry's favorite CD to class.  Every other parent brought CD's filled with children's songs and nursery rhymes.

We brought Carbon Leaf.

In case you were wondering, they are Henry's favorite band.

Can a baby have a favorite band?  I am going to say yes because he does.

Ever since his birth basically it is the one thing that is sure to calm Henry down.  He would be screaming in the car, the second he hears Barry's voice (the lead singer), he would instantly calm down.

Middle of the night scream fest... Carbon Leaf.

You might think I am exaggerating.  I'm not.  Here's proof:

EVERY. TIME.

And some more proof:

Youngest fan?  Maybe.

Just to be clear, Phil took this video while I drove.  Safety first.

I could have WAY more evidence since he gets upset almost daily in the car (he's not a morning baby) and I use Carbon Leaf DAILY to keep my sanity.

We have seen Carbon Leaf in concert almost every time they have been in Portland and we are very excited that we get to go see them again this week on THURSDAY!  We would take Henry but the concert is in a bar.  I'm pretty sure that is frowned upon.

We just aren't going to tell him.

So in case Carbon Leaf happens to be reading this... THANK YOU for being the only thing that soothes my son in the car.  I'm grateful beyond words.

Pinterest: You win some, you lose some

Online tutorials/recipes... they can go either way sometimes.

When it comes to recipes, I prefer using allrecipes.com.  The recipes are rated and people can post their own tricks and tweaks.  But I took a chance when I saw this pin:

{Recipe found HERE}

I followed the directions, including the hints...

They looked good.  And smelled great.

They weren't crispy.

I may try to make them again, using another hit listed in the recipe of using 1/8 cup of pumpkin.  I think before then I will have to make regular krispie treats for Phil.  They are his favorite (along with brownies, in case you wanted to know).

We will put these in the Pinterest FAIL column until further notice.

But more often than not, Pinterest doesn't let you down.  And that was certainly the case for this:

{I have no idea why this picture is so crooked}

I used THIS tutorial and it worked great.  It took 20 yards of 4" burlap ribbon on a 18" wreath frame. I am so excited about this because I really like wreaths (which is random when I say that out loud) but I HATE the idea of paying a ton of money for something that you change so much.  So this one, I can just switch the embellishments on it to move it from season to season.

Pinterest WIN.

Still to be tested this week:

Honey Barbecue Chicken Meatballs from HERE.  They look promising.

5 Things Friday

HellOOOOOOOO Friday!


First, I wanted to say WELCOME to any readers from September F A R M!  Hopefully I will keep you sufficiently entertained with this little blog.  I'm not going to lie... I kind of love blogs.  It's like reality T.V. for the internet.  I'm hooked.  Reading.  Writing.  I'm a fan.

Here's this week's 5 pieces of randomness...

1.  Phil and I were driving home the other day and we past a lemonade stand.  We didn't stop, but it did catch our eye.  In addition to lemonade, they were offering KIX cereal and Bud Light.  Did I mention these were like 8 year olds?  I'm pretty sure there are laws against that.

At least per state liquor laws, they were selling food along with their alcohol.


2.  While making dinner tonight, Henry found the oven mitts.  And then he put them on himself.  And then walked around with them on for like 5 minutes.  It was pretty cute.

3.  Tonight during dinner, Henry was in an AWFUL mood.  Something must be bothering him... teeth... stitches... I don't know.  But this isn't his normal self.  Anyway, the only thing he would eat was grapes.  So grapes, he was having.

Until he was done with them.  And then he threw them on the floor.  Taylor and Cotton have gotten very smart since Henry started feeding himself.  During mealtimes, they are right under his highchair (it doesn't help that we had to cut back their food because they were both getting a little extra padding) and grapes are BAD for dogs.

It's something about the skin causing kidney failure.

As can be expected, the second the grapes hit the floor, the dogs were all over it.  I leapt (leaped?) to my feet, yelling a slow motion "NOOOOOOO!!!" and pushed Taylor out of the way before she could get to the forbidden fruit.

Basically I saved her life.

I'm expected her to throw me a parade through the backyard tomorrow.


4.  My new glasses came!  My prescription has changed enough to make me squint almost all of the time and it was really annoying.

{One day I might figure out how to take a decent selfie.  Don't count on it}

As you can see, they are as different as night and later that night.  I really know how to step out of my normal routine.  I actually wanted to get something with a little more substantial frame to it, but I chickened out.  Not to mention these are from Warby Parker and were only $95 including the frames AND lenses.  PLUS they are plastic which means they might be a little more Henry proof.


5.  I was trying to wait until Christmas, but after getting yelled at Wednesday morning I decided I needed to do something nice for myself.  And that meant getting one of these:

{Similar to this one.  But cheaper}

I floated the idea past Phil and he was ALL for it.  He's pretty much for anything that will help me relax.   It was only $25 at Target, so I am pretty sure it was worth it.  He also let me by a bathtub pillow.

My bath was divine.  I read while deep conditioning my hair and doing a mud mask.  And I felt so much better when I got out.  Totally worth it.

Happy weekend!

Leadership

A part of my job sometimes includes speaking in front of people.  Sometimes this is at public hearings, in front of neighbors who never like what I have to say.  Sometimes it is in front of just a few people at government meetings.

Sometimes neighbors will get up and basically call you an idiot for what you said.  And sometimes the government officials you are speaking to will call you an idiot.

For both scenarios, you don't really get to defend yourself.  You have to just sit there, nod your head, and take it.

I hate that.

Like public speaking isn't hard enough, I think it is even harder when you know you are going to get swung at.

At that's not figurative.  The police have been called to a public hearing I was a part of before.

One of my biggest challenges as a young engineer is proving my knowledge in a room of older engineers.  My age definitely works against me.  And the worst thing I think I could do when I am being hit with rude comments and misinformation is get worked up or let my frustration show.

Meetings aren't the only place my age plays against me.

I am the youngest person at my company.  By at least 7 years.  Some of our employees have been working there for over 20 years.  Literally, I was 4 when one of them started working for my dad.  They have seen me grow up.  I worked there answering phones a couple of summers.  I did all of my internships there.  They have seen me at my not-so-finest, when I didn't quite have the most professional behavior.  It is really hard to undo all of that history and I struggle a little with how to go from answering phones to being a leader within ten years.

Which is why I am so glad I am going to be participating in a Leader Development Series for the next 8 months.  It's 2 hours a day, one day a month, for the next 8 months.  Each month is a different topic, from public speaking, to effectively running a meeting, to finding balance and time management.

When I spoke to one of the organizer's for the series, he told me to be prepared to be uncomfortable and to be ready to push myself.

Thanks for the warning I guess.

But in all honesty, I am ready.

It's not going to be easy for me.  I mean, engineers aren't known for being the most outgoing.  But I am committed to getting the most out of the series as possible.

The organizer also told me to prepare to be "more awesomer".

A part of me feels like I am starting to hit my stride a little bit at work.  I still have so much to learn and so many ways to improve.  But my confidence is starting to grow and grow.  And I am ready to develop my professional skills outside of the technical spectrum.

So wish me luck!  I'm not exactly sure what will be involved at our first meeting today.  Maybe we will be doing trust falls or something.

Rocking Horse

A long-time client ours made Henry this wonderful rocking horse last year after he was born.  It is the kind of toy that you keep forever, in my opinion.  It is picture perfect.  The quintessential baby gift.

To protect it from the dogs, we put it up in Henry's nursery and told ourselves we would get it out for him when he was older and could use it.  I also told myself that instead of a thank you note (which I am terrible at writing), I would get a picture of Henry on the rocking horse and send it to the man who made it.  That way he could see Henry's enjoyment for himself.

Last week, Henry found the rocking horse in his room.  He picked it up and tried to carry it downstairs.  We didn't let him carry it down the stairs.  This was before the stitches were required, but I am fairly certain letting him carry them down the stairs would have had us at the ER a day sooner.  Once we got it down the stairs, Henry sat on the rocking horse and hasn't stopped rocking.

{I seriously need to learn how to properly use my camera.  

Henry's cuteness makes up for the poor photography I think}

I think we have a new favorite toy.  And that's good because I officially retired his trampoline.